Kalaloch Campground: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Olympic Lake National Park

Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 Park Cultural Landscapes Program; Avery, Christy

Kalaloch Campground is set in Olympic National Park (ONP), a 922,651 acre national park located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. ONP ranges in elevation from sea level to 7979 feet and contains glaciated mountains, lush rainforest valleys and ocean coast. The park’s coastal strip is 73 miles long and discontiguous from the rest of the park. It features wilderness beaches, offshore islands, seastacks, and coastal forest dominated by Sitka spruce. The Kalaloch area has a marine-type climate, with wet, relatively mild winters and cool summers. Kalaloch Campground is the largest of four campgrounds set in the park’s coastal strip, and is the only developed campground adjacent to an ocean beach in the park. The campground is remote; it is almost 34 miles from Forks, the nearest incorporated town to the north, and 73 miles from Aberdeen, the nearest incorporated town to the south, via Highway 101. The Kalaloch area also contains concession lodging and a National Park Service complex with a ranger station, utility building and employee housing. Kalaloch Lodge, which includes two hotel buildings, a store and gas station and 38 cabins, is located south of the campground and Kalaloch Creek. The National Park Service complex is located about one-half mile south of the campground on the east side of Highway 101. A mile-long nature trail is set across the highway from the campground. The campground is set on a bluff that rises about 40 feet above the beach below. It is spread over one half-mile, north to south. The site is narrow; it is only about 60 yards wide at its northern boundary and narrowest point, and about 220 yards wide at its widest point at the southern boundary. Road access is via a single point of entry, set in the center of the campground, which provides access to the campground from Highway 101. A parking area for day use visitors is set just west of the entrance; stairs provide access from the parking area to the beach. An amphitheater, built in 1985 and used for interpretive programs, is set south of the parking area and is accessed by a short trail. The campground road, which runs north-south, bisects the entry road and provides access to loops D, E and F, to the north, and A, B and C to the south. Kalaloch Campground has been determined eligible for listing on the National Register as locally significant under Criteria A and C within the NPS Mission 66 historic context. The site remains in overall good condition.

Kalaloch Campground: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Olympic Lake National Park

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